After listening to industry comments on its proposed 5-Star rating system for home health, CMS has removed the process measure “Pneumococcal Vaccine Ever Received” from the rating system. It plans to introduce patient experience-of-care measures later this year.
 
CMS previously took into account industry feedback when it changed the new 5-Star rating system on Home Health Compare to make sure half-star increments, not full-star increments, were used. 
 
The rating system starts in July and will be published quarterly thereafter.
 
CMS also plans on hosting a webinar March 26 to review the format of the star rating report agencies will receive from CMS in their Certification And Survey Provider Enhanced Reports (CASPER) and the process of requesting review of the rating. To register for this webinar, go to: http://tinyurl.com/okhyofh.
 
The federal Medicare agency says that around the end of March, before data is posted for the public to view, home health agencies will see a preview of their star rating and how it was derived in CASPER.
 
Agencies with evidence that data submitted to CMS for calculation of the star rating was inaccurate or incomplete will have two and half weeks after receiving their preview reports to request a review of their rating, CMS says. More information about making these requests will be posted at the star ratings website (see below for link).
 
CMS has proposed that the list of nine measures that will determine your star rating be a combination of the following process and outcome scores.
 
  • Process measures include: Timely initiation of care, drug education on all medications provided to patient/caregiver and influenza immunization received for current flu season.
  • Outcome measures include: Improvement in ambulation, improvement in bed transferring, improvement in bathing, improvement in pain interfering with activity, improvement in dyspnea and acute care hospitalization.
The July star ratings will reflect OASIS data from January 2014 through December 2014 and claims data from October 2013 through September 2014 — the same reporting period that will be published on Home Health Compare in April, CMS says.
 
CMS applied the star ratings methodology to Home Health Compare data for calendar year 2013 and found 2.55% of agencies earned 5 stars, 8.41% earned 4.5, 15.38% earned 4, 22.77% got 3.5, 23.11% earned 3, 16.75% earned 2.5, 9.02% earned 2, 1.95% earned 1.5 and 0.06% earned 1 star.
 
CMS 5-star scoring
The following is a list of how CMS will score agencies:
Overall score after averaging across quality measures and rounding to the nearest half star
Star rating
4.5 and 5
5
4
4.5
3.5
4
3
3.5
2.5
3
2
2.5
1.5
2
1
1.5
0.5
1
 
Related links: The star ratings website, which includes a link to the FAQ page on the rating system updated Feb. 27, can be found here: http://go.cms.gov/1g6HNL5. CMS asks to send all questions and comments about the rating system here: HHC_Star_Ratings_Helpdesk@cms.hhs.gov.